Getting Nervous

I'll be honest, folks, I'm getting nervous.

More than a little nervous.

Tomorrow is the last day of voting for the Circle of Moms contest, and I've slipped down pretty far in the ranks. If I lose any more ground before voting ends tomorrow, I won't be in the top 25.

So, if you haven't yet today, can you please throw me a quick vote? It takes less time than reading all of this.

To vote for me, click this pink badge, then scroll down till you see my blog, and click on the thumbs-up button.

If you all vote for me today, and once again tomorrow, I have no doubt that I will still be in the top 25 when the voting closes.

Thanks, oh faithful readers. You're the best!

A Tip For Tuesday - Save on Hand Soap (NOT diy!)

I don't know about you, but I like the foaming hand soaps for the bathroom sinks.

With kids in a constant state of motion, I always wonder if the soap is really being distributed well across their hands, and I think the foaming hand soaps ensure that it is.

However, they cost more, and I'm always looking for good ways to save money.

Now, before you go get your iron kettle out and curse me for telling you to make your own homemade soaps or reuse your bar soap slivers, just chillax a sec.

It's nothing like that. All you have to do is buy those big giant, "economical" soft soap refills. When your foaming hand soap dispenser is empty, just fill it about 1/3 of the way with the refill stuff, and add water to the top. Swirl it around a bit and replace the dispenser thingy, and voila, you've refilled the bottle for a small fraction of the cost of replacing the whole thing. Plus, you've reused your dispenser, so less stuff going into the landfills, and all that.

Those lttle bottles of foaming handsoap cost a couple bucks a pop.
The big giant refill bottles cost about $5.00.
So for what you would spend to buy two of the little ones, you can buy enough to refill about a bazillion bottles, give or take.

So there you have it. My Tip for Tuesday will save you money and save the planet.

No iron kettles required.


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Don't forget to vote for me on Top Mommy Blogs! Just click on this brown button with the juggling chick. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!



Holy handsoap, tomorrow is the last day of voting for the Circle of Moms contest!
To vote for me, click this pink badge, then scroll down till you see my blog, and click on the thumbs-up button. Hurry now!
Thanks!



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In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday
and Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up

Since today is Tuesday, that means I'm linking my post "It's Happened Again" with Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up, and my post "Glass Half-Full" with Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday. Come join the fun!

Btw? She's BACK!!!!

Our Rosie is finally home, sweet home! We picked her up last night at half o'clock in the morning.

Here she is getting off the bus.

Here she is bidding one of her fellow Australian-Americans a tearful goodbye.

Here she is being engulfed by some of the other young ambassadors in a farewell mosh pit that was more dangerous than all the surfing and rapelling and spelunking combined.

Here is a picture of a picture of her cuddling what appears to be a dead Koala. Dead of some exotic disease, no doubt.

Here is a picture of a picture of her rapelling down some....
OK, I can't do this anymore.































Anyway, she is fine and dandy and only has one scratch on her foot to show for all her risk-taking, danger-seeking adventures.

When we were driving home, I asked her a bazillion questions, give or take, before we settled into a comfortable silence. After a few minutes, as she gazed out the window, I heard her say,

"I miss them all."

My heart swelled, my eyes got all misty, and I thought to myself, 'I've raised this girl right. What a sweet and tender thing that she misses her brothers and sisters...'

"Can we go soon?"

"Go where, darlin'?"

"To the mall. I miss the mall."

Oh. I miss the mall, not I miss them all.
Strike the wistfulness and the tender heart.


Anyway, by the time we got home and got her suitcase in and she said hello to all her siblings who were waiting up, it was 2 in the morning before I was in bed, and much later than that (nearly 4, maybe?) till I fell asleep, all to get up at 6 to drive someone somewhere (you Moms know what I'm talking about). And I'm back from that, but have to leave soon to take a different kid to the dentist.

I don't need a cup of coffee, I need a coffee infusion system today.

That's OK. I've got my girl back safe and sound,

It's all good.

Mirth Monday

From: mommysavers.com
Via Pinterest

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Don't forget, I will love you forever if you throw me a vote on Top Mommy Blogs. You know the drill by now, don't you? Just click the juggling chick and you've voted. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!



Also? If you feel so inclined, please vote for me in the Circle of Moms Top 25 Moms With Big Families contest. To vote for me, click this pink badge, then scroll down till you see my blog, and click on the thumbs-up button. You can vote every day till the contest ends.
Yikes! That's only two days from now. Please vote!
Thanks!



***************

In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop and A Cat-Like Curiosity's Monday Mantras Link-Up
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday
and Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up

Since today is Monday, that means I'm linking my post "Farm Friday - Punkins" with Homestead Revival's Barn Hop, and yesterday's post "Inspiration Sunday" with A Cat-Like Curiosity's Monday Mantras. Come join the fun!

Inspiration Sunday

From: borntomakeanimpact.tumblr.com
From Pinterest

*************************

Don't forget, I will love you forever if you throw me a vote on Top Mommy Blogs. You know the drill by now, don't you? Just click the juggling chick and you've voted. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!

And to vote for me on the Circle of Moms contest, click this pink badge, then scroll down till you see my blog, and click on the thumbs-up button. You can vote every day till the contest ends this Weds, 8/1. Thanks!

Home Stretch

OK, it's Saturday, and Rosie arrives home tomorrow. She's I've made it.

She has I have survived her hair-raising, knuckle-whitening adventures, most recently including hand-feeding wild dolphins, rapelling down mountains, zip-lining, rock-climbing, and surfing
please, please, please, no one tell me about the recent rash of shark attacks off the coast of Australia....

As we speak, she is enjoying a relaxing evening at Sydney's Hard Rock Cafe, followed by packing up all her belongings and getting one last night of sleep in the Land Down Under before jetting back to America.

So the only thing I have left to worry about is her hurtling through space at 500mph, 50,000 feet over the vast South Pacific.

Nothin to worry about here, folks....




Hurry back, Rosie....

****************************

Don't forget, I will love you forever if you throw me a vote on Top Mommy Blogs. You know the drill by now, don't you? Just click the juggling chick and you've voted. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!

Ack! I'm slippin' and slidin' down the list on Circle of Moms contest for Moms with Big Families, and there are only a few more days left of voting before the contest ends! Please help a girl out by voting for me? Just click this pink badge, then scroll down till you see my blog, and click on the thumbs-up button. You can vote every day till the contest ends on Weds 8/1. Thanks!



***************

In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop and A Cat-Like Curiosity's Monday Mantras.
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday
and Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up

Since today is Saturday, that means I'm linking my post "Farm Friday - Punkins" with Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up, and my post "Frankenstein's Dog" with Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Come join the fun!

Farm Friday - Punkins

I planted something new-to-me this year.

Pumpkins.

I have this stone wall that I usually plant annuals by, but then I don't keep up with the weeding and it looks like an embarassing jungle.

So I thought, pumpkins grow all rambly and viney, so if I plant them by the stone wall, it'll still look like a jungle, but like it's supposed to be a jungle.

There is a difference.

I planted them late, so I don't know if I'll have mature pumpkins before we get hit with frost, but I'm hopeful we'll have something. Kids can paint them, we can set them on the porch, we can feed them to the chickens.

It's all good.

Fingers crossed!

************

Hello? Is this thing on? For some reason, my ratings on the Top Mommy Blog thing have been slipping lately, though my blog views are way up (thanks to all my awesome followers, new and old!). Can you take a sec to vote so I can get back on the first page? I hate not being in the top 25. Just click on this brown button with the juggling chick. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!



If you have a sec, could you vote for me for the Circle of Moms contest? It's for Top 25 Moms With Big Families. To vote for me, click this pink badge, then scroll down till you see my blog, and click on the thumbs-up button. You can vote every day till the contest ends on 8/1 (next week). Thanks!



***************

In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday
and Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up

Since today is Friday, that means I'm linking today's post with Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday, but I'll also be linking this same post up with some of the hops listed above in the coming week. Come join the fun!

Must Watch

My family has been watching America's Got Talent. And a few days ago, I was reminded of a clip my Dad sent me last year from Korea's Got Talent. Everytime I watch it, I am moved to tears.


So I want you to watch this.

Hear Choi Sung-Bong's story.

Listen to his voice.







Understand the words that he sings....


Translation:

In my fantasy
In my fantasy I see a just world,
Where everyone lives in peace and honesty.
I dream of souls that are always free
Like the clouds that float
Full of humanity in the depths of the soul.


In my fantasy I see a bright world
Where each night there is less darkness.
I dream of spirits that are always free,
Like the clouds that float


In my fantasy exists a warm wind,
That blows into the city, like a friend.
I dream of souls that are always free,
Like the clouds that float
Full of humanity in the depths of the soul.



Full of humanity in the depths of the soul.




Humanity.

Let us provide families to boys like this.

Can you adopt?

Do you know someone who can?

Forward this to everyone. If one more family steps forward, then something good has come out of this boy's troubled life.

Stop this from happening to another little child.

Stop this from happening to God's gifts.










PS: Thank you, Daddy, for sending this to me!


************


Don't forget, I will love you forever if you throw me a vote on Top Mommy Blogs. You know the drill by now, don't you? Just click the juggling chick and you've voted. You can vote every day till like, forever.

Thanks!

Also? If you feel so inclined, please vote for me in the Circle of Moms Top 25 Moms With Big Families contest. To vote for me, click this pink badge, then scroll down till you see my blog, and click on the thumbs-up button. You can vote every day till the contest end on August 1st. Thanks!



***************


In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller. Here's the schedule I keep:

Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop and A Cat-Like Curiosity's Monday Mantras Link-Up
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday and Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up

Since today is Thursday, that means I'm linking my post "Farm Friday - Coop Queen Dream" with A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop.
Come join the fun!

Wordless Wednesday

Baby Barn Swallows on our porch....

How cute are they....?


***************

Hello? Is this thing on? For some reason, my ratings on the Top Mommy Blog thing have been slipping lately, though my blog views are way up (thanks to all my awesome followers, new and old!). Can you take a sec to vote so I can get back on the first page? I hate not being in the top 25. Just click on this brown button with the juggling chick. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!



Also? If you're feeling generous with your clicks, please vote for me in the Circle of Moms Top 25 Moms With Big Families contest. To vote for me, click this pink badge, then scroll down till you see my blog, and click on the thumbs-up button. You can vote every day till the contest ends. Thanks!



***************

In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday
and Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up

Since today is Wednesday, that means I'm linking my post "Escaped!" with My Life and Kids Finding the Funny. Come join the fun!

A Tip for Tuesday - Teaching at the Table

Ours is not a homeschooling family.

I'm not that brave, but my hat is off to all those that are.

That being said, I do try to make sure the little buggers are learning a few things now and then. Even when they're NOT in school. You've all seen the video, right?




Yeah. Not on my watch. Such as....



To that end, I've got maps, and I'm not afraid to use 'em.

We currently have a giant US map on our dinner table, covered in clear plastic, so we can wipe the spagehetti sauce off of Seattle and the milk off of Milwaukee.

Every now and then, I take the US map out and replace it with a world map.

Sometimes we play I Spy games with the maps
I spy a large country bordered by Russia and China....

or quiz each other on capitals. My oldest and my youngest, in particular, are kind of geography nerds and they like challenging each other in this way.

I'm hoping the others pick it up by osmosis or something.

So. Maps. They're what's for dinner.


*********************


Hello? Is this thing on? For some reason, my ratings on the Top Mommy Blog thing have been slipping lately, though my blog views are way up (thanks to all my awesome followers, new and old!). Can you take a sec to vote so I can get back on the first page? I hate not being in the top 25. Just click on this brown button with the juggling chick. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!



Also? If you're feeling generous with your clicks, please vote for me in the Circle of Moms Top 25 Moms With Big Families contest. To vote for me, click this pink badge, then scroll down till you see my blog, and click on the thumbs-up button. You can vote every day till the contest ends. Thanks!



***************

In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday
and Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up

Since today is Tuesday, that means I'm linking my post "Escaped" with Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up, and "That's My Girl" with Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday. Come join the fun!

Mirth Monday

From Pinterest.
Originally pinned by Jacque Smith onto Quelque chose que je dirais

************

Don't forget, I will love you forever if you throw me a vote on Top Mommy Blogs. You know the drill by now, don't you? Just click the juggling chick and you've voted. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!



Also? If you feel so inclined, please vote for me in the Circle of Moms Top 25 Moms With Big Families contest. To vote for me, click this pink badge, then scroll down till you see my blog, and click on the thumbs-up button. You can vote every day till the contest ends. Thanks!



***************

In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop and A Cat-Like Curiosity's Monday Mantras Link-Up
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday
and Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up

Since today is Monday, that means I'm linking my post "Farm Friday - Coop Queen Dream" with Homestead Revival's Barn Hop, and yesterday's post "Inspiration Sunday" with A Cat-Like Curiosity's Monday Mantras. Come join the fun!

Inspiration Sunday

*************************

Don't forget, I will love you forever if you throw me a vote on Top Mommy Blogs. You know the drill by now, don't you? Just click the juggling chick and you've voted. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!

And to vote for me on the Circle of Moms contest, click this pink badge, then scroll down till you see my blog, and click on the thumbs-up button. You can vote every day till the contest ends. Thanks!

She Hasn't Been Eaten By a Dingo. Yet.

Rosie's been away now for 12 days.

Not that I'm counting or anything.

She has so far survived snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef,
after travelling for 30 +/- hours, and eating like, a potato (give or take)

bush walking in the outback, sleeping over in the house of someone I've never met, sleeping in a tent on a farm in a jungle

(No need to worry about things like scorpions and spiders and snakes. I'm sure there aren't any in Australia).

What's that? Australia is home to more deadly species of animals and insects than any other place on earth? Hmmm? I'm sorry, I can't hear you...

spelunking, touring a crocodile farm

lalalalala, I can't hear you, lalalalala










And if, when you read "spelunking", you envisioned a guided tour through a well-lit cave with concrete steps and handrails, you thought wrong. She traipsed through the jungle to the cave opening, then lowered herself into a dark hole in the ground, and belly-crawled through the pitch, with flashlights distributed to every other person. Exiting the cave required clambering up a landslide of boulders and rubble till they could reach daylight again. She was covered in filth, but alive....


I haven't gotten to talk to her every day, because they are sometimes in areas
where they have no cell service for days on end

Not that I am worried or anything.

Nope.

Not me.


And they have actually managed to engage in a couple of non-scary adventures while in the land of Oz. Like meeting politicians, touring the beef and sugar cane industries, visiting schools, and trips to the zoo and aquarium.





What's to come in the week ahead? Staying on some godforsaken island, more snorkeling (this time among ship wrecks), sand tobogganing "on the island's giant sand dunes", hand-feeding wild dolphins, navigating their way through a city known for its "mobs of kangaroos", dining at a restaurant known for serving kangaroo, rapelling down an "exposed rock face in the Blue Mountains", and surfing, to name a few of the items on their itinerary.

But me? Why, I'll just be swinging in the hammock, footloose and fancy free, drinking a lemonade.

With a Xanax IV on the side.



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Images courtesy:
symbiosis-travel.com
travelblog.org
animaltourism.com
koorana.com.au
squidoo.com
armyrotc.pr.erau.edu

****************************

Don't forget, I will love you forever if you throw me a vote on Top Mommy Blogs. You know the drill by now, don't you? Just click the juggling chick and you've voted. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!

And to vote for me on the Circle of Moms contest, click this pink badge, then scroll down till you see my blog, and click on the thumbs-up button. You can vote every day till the contest ends. Thanks!



***************

In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop and A Cat-Like Curiosity's Monday Mantras.
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday
and Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up

Since today is Saturday, that means I'm linking my post "Farm Friday - Coop Queen Dream" with Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up. Come join the fun!

Farm Friday - Coop Queen Dream

Last Friday I shared my bubbly excitement over the receipt of my Coop Queen poultry waterer and its accompanying drinker nipples.

It was an exciting day around here, let me tell you.

And I told you there would be pictures to follow, so, true to my word, here they are.

Mind you, I don't quite have it properly hung just yet, because I haven't made up my mind exactly where I want it. So for now it's resting atop the rabbit hutch, with the hose passing through the wire wall and into the hen house. And like everything else around my sorry excuse for a farm, it's held together with duct tape and baling twine.

See? I told you this was heady stuff....




And as a special bonus? Here is a picture of my rabbit Alice. She's a Flemish Giant, and roughly the size of a labrador retriever. If rubbing a rabbit's foot gives you good luck, gazing upon Alice should keep you covered, as well.

You're welcome.

************

Hello? Is this thing on? For some reason, my ratings on the Top Mommy Blog thing have been slipping lately, though my blog views are way up (thanks to all my awesome followers, new and old!). Can you take a sec to vote so I can get back on the first page? I hate not being in the top 25. Just click on this brown button with the juggling chick. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!



I've been nominated for another Circle of Moms contest! This one is for Top 25 Moms With Big Families. To vote for me, click this pink badge, then scroll down till you see my blog, and click on the thumbs-up button. You can vote every day till the contest ends. Thanks!



***************

In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday
and Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up

Since today is Friday, that means I'm linking today's post with Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday, but I'll also be linking this same post up with some of the hops listed above in the coming week. Come join the fun!